A bill that aims to deregulate landline telephone service in the state has triggered fierce opposition from the country's largest seniors organization.

AARP claims the bill will eventually lead to the deterioration of landline service for seniors, who need the service most. It has been buying advertisements and lobbying the state legislature in a campaign titled, "Don't Hang Up on CT Seniors."

The legislation comes as AT&T has announced it will spend $14 billion over the next three years to expand and upgrade its networks, nationwide. The company is diverting some of the money it would have invested in traditional landlines to more modern technology, including wireless phone service. Just last week, AT&T announced it plans to eliminate 27 jobs related to landline service in the state.

John Emra, AT&T's regional vice president for external and legislative affairs, called the proposed bill "regulatory reform lite."

He says the bill is "a start to modernizing Connecticut's communications laws." The legislation, he explained, targets some regulations that have been unchanged since the 1940s, when AT&T was a virtual monopoly telephone-service provider.

Today, AT&T and Verizon, which provides local telephone service in the Greenwich area, are the state's only landline providers and the only telecommunications companies regulated by the state — even though, combined, they serve just 28 percent of the state's households, Emra said.

"The monopoly is gone, but the regulations still exist," he said.

The bill would do away with some tariffs and a yearly audit by the Public Utilities Regulatory Authority. Emra said no other states require a yearly audit, and that the tariffs pay to offset the cost of providing services few people use, such as Caller ID block, which hides a caller's name and phone number when calling a phone using Caller ID.

With technology advances that have increased the use of wireless phone services, landline service — the old-fashioned phone plugged into a telephone jack in the wall, — has declined. AT&T officials say the company loses about 10,000 landline customers a month in Connecticut, and has 1.4 million fewer landline customers today than it did in 2000.

Only about a third of homes in the state still use traditional landline phone service, according to AT&T, which refers to landlines as "POTS" — plain old telephone service.

Emra stressed, however, that even if the legislation passes, AT&T will still offer basic landline service.

JOHN ERLINGHEUSER, advocacy director for AARP Connecticut, disputes that claim. He said AT&T is looking to stop service quality calls on landlines, and to eventually discontinue its landline service.

"They want to extricate themselves from the responsibility of being the telephone company," Erlingheuser said.

AARP is not against modernization, but is concerned that the bill eliminates regulatory oversight of landline service at a time when the transition to the more advanced digital phone service is still evolving, he said.

The legislation would allow AT&T to eliminate landline service with just a 60-day notice and no regulatory proceeding, Erlingheuser said.

He said basic landline service is just a phone with a dial tone and no other features, such as Caller ID or call waiting, which seniors rely on to protect themselves against telemarketers and fraud.

Erlingheuser said not everyone can afford an alternative to landline service, and in many cases a landline is preferred over a cell phone, such as when people make an emergency call or need to use the phone during a power outage.

Emra counters that AT&T's traditional landline service is the most expensive option for its customers, costing on average about $51 a month. In contrast, its U-verse voice service, which provides telephone service over the Internet, costs about $35 per month, while its new wireless home phone unit costs about $10 per month.

He also noted that both the Internet service and cell phone towers have either battery backup power or emergency generators to keep the phones working during power outages.

The bill passed the legislature's Energy and Technology Committee last week. Co-Chairman Sen. Bob Duff, D-Norwalk, said this is the third iteration of the bill, and with each version more was done to make sure the public is protected.

State Rep. Sean Williams, R-Watertown, said he has received letters from AARP on behalf of members in his district. There is value in what the bill is trying to accomplish, including making the state more open to competition, he said.

" I agree with Conservative1. AARP is a "Senior Pimp" organization just like the NAACP. Their auto insurance rates and Medicad Supplement plans are not the cheapest, and the list goes on.

Land lines I fear will be a thing of the past. The new generation could care less about them. The world is now wireless and cable companies will be next. Technology is running at a very rapid rate, and cannot be stopped. "

" As one of those who live in an area where AT&T wireless service is spotty at best, I'm concerned about this idea. The topography of parts of the state make cell service unpredictable if not non-existent. We'll have to see if the "upgrades" actually reach us hee - from what I've seen they are mostly focused on large cities in flatter land where service is already decent. "

" Re: AARPâ€™s fears landlinesâ€™ end, 033013Thanks for the story; here is how this 83-year-old senior feels about it.Do not beg ATT not to abandon landlines. Think about forming our own CT version of HTC - Horry Telephone Cooperative, http://www.htcinc.net/. It is a customer owned complete telephone and digital facility and service. We only had to buy one share of stock for $ 5.00 in 1994. The service was great. My big concern if ATT discontinues landline service it ends all my daily uses of internet connection called DSL. Using ATT DSL, I email, read R-A daily news and say my morning prayers, search for information, use http://www.consumerreports.org, Google Earth, and much more.

" Ok, what stupid A-hole came up with "LANDLINE?".IT'S A TELEPHONE, STUPID!! ALEXANDER BELL INVENTED THE "TELEPHONE", STUPID !!I don't have an AIR line. i don't have a SEA line. I don't have an OUTER SPACE line. I have a "TELEPHONE line.Must have been the yuppies that came up with that stupid name.AND the "cell" phone is the most useless, undependable, unreliable , POS of electronics I've ever seen. Mine was so useless, that I dumped it 10 years ago and observing everone else's problems, nothing has changed..I had made a dozen calls over 10 years and 90% failed so, I never bought one again.So, go ahead, take my TELEPHONE. I could learn to live without it. "

" AARP is a political organization for the liberal democrats and the Unions. They supported BHO election and re election without the approval of its members. Same as the Unions.Do you feel being ripped off ? "

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